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Two professors made Clarkson University history when their research on stem cells was published in a prestigious journal from Cell Press.

Professor Thomas Lufkin, the Bayard and Virginia Clarkson Endowed Chair in Biology (left); and Research Assistant Professor of Biology Petra Kraus.Professor Thomas Lufkin, the Bayard and Virginia Clarkson Endowed Chair in Biology, and Research Assistant Professor of Biology Petra Kraus published a research paper in Cell Stem Cell on transforming cells into embryonic stem cells.

Professors strive to publish in journals that have the highest impact factors which are cited many times per year, Lufkin said, and this is the Read More…

Spinal cord injuries, resulting in permanent disability or paralysis in most cases, account for around eleven thousand new cases in the US, annually. Due to the lack of effective treatment strategies, it is considered as the most devastating of all traumatic conditions. Now, a recent study published in the journal Stem Cells reports that activation of ependymal stem/progenitor cells from injured spinal cord (epSPCi), using endogenous stem cell-associated mechanisms, may aid in rescuing neurological function, thereby reversing paralysis associated with spinal cord injuries.

After umbilical cord blood, the based LifeCell International is planning to save the umbilical cord tissue that is routinely discarded along with the placenta once a baby is delivered.

The cord tissue and cord blood are rich sources of stem cells.

LifeCell, which is into private banking, will start collecting umbilical cord tissue in the near future. It already collects and stores cord blood for private banking.
After a baby is delivered, the cord is first clamped before it is cut. Cord blood is collected and then the umbilical cord tissue is cut from the placenta to just above Read More…

RIYADH – Stem Cells Unit at the Department of Anatomy in King Saud University will organize a conference on stem cell research and medical reconstruction at the Faculty of Medicine and King Khalid University Hospital on Nov. 7-9. First of its kind in the Kingdom, the conference will be held in cooperation with the KSU’s Center for Medical Education, the Australian National University and the University of South Denmark.
President of the Organizing Committee of the Conference, Dr. Abdullah Al-Dahmash, said here Saturday that the conference aims at presenting the latest developments in the field of stem cell research and Read More…

Italy’s Constitutional Court relaxed parts of a law on artificial procreation that had imposed strict rules for fertility treatments.
The judges struck down as unconstitutional one of the most contested sections of the 2004 law, which said only three embryos could be created at one time, and all had to be implanted in the patient’s womb, a court spokesman said.

The judges also introduced stronger wording to ensure that embryos are implanted only if it doesn’t endanger the woman’s health, said spokesman Giovanni Gattarino.
The issue had been put before the constitutional judges by lower administrative and civil Read More…

Stem cells are basic cells that can become almost any type of cell in the body. Human stem cells can come from an embryo or an adult human. They have many possible uses in science and medicine, yet controversy surrounds them.

New research has identified rogue cells -- namely brain and muscle cells -- lurking within kidney organoids. Such cells make up only 10 to 20 percent of an organoid's cells, but their presence indicates that the 'recipes' used to coax stem cells into becoming kidney cells inadvertently are churning out other cell types.

A new study shows that cancer stem cells switch from metabolizing sugar to metabolizing protein. Clinical trial based on this observation may revolutionize care for older adults with acute myeloid leukemia.

Researchers have developed a way to grow human heart tissue that can serve as a model for the upper chambers of the heart, known as the atria. The tissue, derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPCSs), beats, expresses genes, and responds to drugs in a manner similar to a real human atrium. The model […]

Scientists have created a tiny, biodegradable scaffold to transplant stem cells and deliver drugs, which may help treat Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, aging brain degeneration, spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries. Stem cell transplantation, which shows promise as a treatment for central nervous system diseases, has been hampered by low cell survival rates, incomplete […]

Promising findings from preclinical animal studies show the potential of gene therapy for treating incurable neurological disorders. Scientists have successfully used gene therapy to slow the progression and improve symptoms of disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

A new form of therapy may halt or even reverse a form of progressive vision loss that, until now, has inevitably led to blindness. This hyper-targeted approach offers hope to individuals living with spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) and validates a new form of therapy with the potential to treat neurogenetic diseases effectively and with […]